Hopelessly Hopeful
by Hidden Facade
Summary: A kingdom waiting to crumble is wary against resistance and people are begining to question. Love comes and goes in many forms, and certain people are about to learn that the hard way.
1. What the Hell?

A/N: This is just a test run. I still have to do a lot of research, but I wanted to post this in an attempt to relieve my writer's block for my other stories.

Warnings for the future chapters: possible lemons, yaoi: Male/Male relationships, Het relationships, cursing, torture, blood, violence, alcohol. Nudity, and other things once I remember and have this better planned out.

* * *

"Seifer!"

An ecstatic Sora came careening around the corner, shouting Seifer's name, only to crash into him.

Seifer had been leaning against the grey stone wall until Sora had barreled into him, sending them both to the floor, Sora on top of Seifer. Any person that happened to come upon the scene would have passed giggling because the small five-foot six kid was laying on the six-two figure.

That was besides the point though because to them it didn't matter. Seifer was a childhood friend of his older brother and so in consequence he was a friend of Sora's too. Then again, the person that did happen upon them wouldn't laugh anyway, even if his life depended on it.

Squall was minding his own business, when he heard a slam of something against the floor ahead of him. Cautiously looking up from the book he was currently reading, his eyes were met with the sight of his younger brother and best friend sprawled across the floor in a tangle of limbs.

Rolling his eyes, he closed the book and hastened his pace. When he reached the scene of the 'crime', he tucked the small book into a pocket that was on the inside of his robes, and plucked Sora off of Seifer by the back of his robes. He then set Sora down next to him, only to offer his hand to Seifer. Without a moments hesitation, he took the offered hand and let it pull him up, which was impressive to anyone who didn't know the brunet well, since he was five-foot-eight, a short height compared to Seifer's six-two frame.

"Well, Mr. Sunshine, thanks for the lift"

A taunting edge to Seifer's words caused Squall's lip to curl slightly upward. Before he could retort however, a forgotten third member to the party of two interrupted.

"Can we go to the village? It is Squalls eighteenth birthday, and since it's such a special year, we ought to celebrate" Sora requested in a whiny voice.

Seifer grunted his agreement, while Squall protested by retrieving his book and continuing to read from where he had left off. Sora whined, knowing by now the language of his brother who was usually silent.

"Come on Squall, we haven't sneaked out in a few months, and Sora is finally old enough to accompany us. You'll use your alias as usual for when we go, and Sora will use Roz"

Squall hissed out a breath of air between his teeth, and Seifer smirked, knowing his victory was imminent.

"You can see Yuffie in the village"

Yuffie was a hyper woman that they had run into several times in the village. Squall and she had hit it off, that is, as well as one could with Squall, and had visited each other every time he and Seifer had been in the village.

Sora, who knew that they had won when Squall's mouth had tightened, whooped loudly for joy. Seifer's smirk bloomed into a grin and Squall thought to himself:

'_What have I gotten myself into?' _


	2. Oh, Shit

Warnings For Story: Yaoi, Yuri, violence, cursing, and other things to come.

A/N: I actually have an idea of where I'm going with this one.

* * *

Sora, under the alias of Roz, had a spring in his step.

Excitement was bubbling up in him, starting from his toes and traveling upwards.

He giggled, his hand coming up to cover his mouth. Squall was walking ahead a foot, and Seifer was walking next to Sora, looking around lazily. Sora couldn't help the excitement he was feeling, since lately, he had been feeling cooped up in the mansion type castle.

The castle was situated behind the village, huge concrete walls enveloped the castle type mansion and village, and were re-enforced with magic, courtesy of the courts' magicians. The walls made a square around the mansion-castle, then the two side sections shot out to encase the village within. Of course, the village and manor-castle were separated with a wall, the only way to get in and out was a certain spell word. If uttered, the word activated a section of wall to disappear and then reappear ten second afterwards, only holding open when a sorceress or sorcerer spoke the word.

Sora was getting ready to ask Squall if it was all right if they headed to a sweet shop, when a blur of green and tan ran past him to latch onto Squall, currently known as Leon. When she did, Sora got a good look at her.

She had short, chin length black hair, and expressive brown eyes. She was tan with an oval face. She was about five-three and skinny. She wore a green tube top and khaki shorts that only covered up to her upper thighs. Brown boots covered her feet, which were rocking back onto her heels as she bounced up and down.

She started to talk a mile a minute, and Sora was fascinated. He and Seifer walked over to the two and stopped to observe. After a few minutes, Sora heard footsteps. He turned, and Seifer, having heard the noise too, also turned. Jogging up to them was a silver haired god. The 'god' slowed to a stop as he got closer and stopped completely as he came up to them. As he caught sight of who was with the black-haired girl he looked surprised, but it vanished so fast that Sora was unsure if he saw it.

The guy looked to be around eighteen, but seemed older somehow. His eyes were an aquamarine color that seemed off for some reason but Sora wasn't given time to dwell on the young mans appearance, seeing as how that the minute he caught sight of the raven haired girl he walked to her and started to talk.

"Yuffie, Meyer wants to meet soon, in about an hour" A smooth voice came out of the 'gods' mouth.

Sora watched as a long, slender fingered hand flicked one of the few strands that were in his eyes away in irritation. The guy had silver hair that went to his upper back, in between his shoulder blades, and a long fringe hung in front of his eyes. On either side of his face hung some hair that stopped at his jaw line, and his hair seemed to be naturally layered. He was probably about five-ten to five-twelve at most, and it made Sora a little jealous, considering he was only five-six.

"But I just met up with Leon. I wanted to talk to him more" The girl complained.

* * *

Riku sighed in irritation.

Yuffie was being difficult on purpose, he knew that much. He needed to get her to get a move on, he didn't feel like dealing with Cloud if not everyone was present at a meeting.

Last time that had happened, Riku's hair had been damp for over four hours, no matter how much he tried to dry it. He would rather not have a repeat performance, so without warning, he grabbed Yuffie's upper arm and tried to drag her away but she latched onto the brown haired guys upper arm.

The guy was a statue for all he budged when that happened and he didn't even wince. Riku backed down, knowing suddenly that force wouldn't work.

He turned to study the guy for any clues about how to deal with this. The guy had blue eyes interwoven with gray and his silky looking hair was shoulder length and seemed to be layered. He was shorter then Riku, at about five-eight, and his complexion said that porcelain wasn't only what dolls were made of.

Riku let out a sigh of air upwards to get a few pieces of hair out of his eyes. He had noticed that the brunet had two companions with him, lagging behind him maybe about a foot. He was hoping to get out of there before the two friends caught up but if Yuffie didn't can it and get moving they wouldn't get out in time.

"Come on Yuffie" He said, "you don't want Meyer waiting, you know how he gets"

Yuffie pouted but relented, turning back to the stoic brunet to apologize. He waited impatiently, wanting nothing more then to grab her and drag her to the meetings' location. That wouldn't work though, she would just become more stubborn, not complying with his wants. Right now that wasn't an option.

"Hey, what's going on here?"

Riku turned at the voice that sounded so familiar, with an 'Oh, shit' face.


	3. Whirlwind Known As Kairi

Warnings For Story: Yaoi male/male relationships, violence, and cursing. More to come.

A/N: Hello, review please and hope this chapter is enjoyable.

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Kingdom hearts one or two, or any Final Fantasy games or characters and NO copy infringement is intended.

* * *

A red-haired whirlwind crashed into Riku, both arms latching onto his elbow. He was a little caught off balance but it took him less then two seconds to regain his balance.

Riku groaned mentally when his fears were proven correct.

The red head he had known his whole childhood was currently attached to his arm, pressing her lithe, delicately muscled body against his side. Red hair that was a little past shoulder length tickled his bare arms, since the jacket and shirt he was wearing was sleeveless, but he didn't even flinch. Blue eyes that had more of a purple tint to them gazed admiringly into his aquamarine eye's. Her head was tilted back a bit since she was only five-four while he was five-ten. He stared at her blatantly, not quite sure what to say without sounding rude.

The redhead that was now attached to his arm was known as Kairi, who was a sweet, kindhearted girl, but she had her bitchy moments, and she did get jealous a little too easily. Riku felt like she was his little sister, her being seventeen, a year younger then him. Nevertheless, she had developed feelings for him about a month ago. It was irritating at times but he put up with it, spectactularly in his opinion.

"Riku, what are you doing here?" She didn't even pause for breath as she continued "I haven't seen you in weeks. Where were you?"

Riku became nervous, not wanting to talk about where he had been in front of strangers. It wasn't a good idea, and Kairi should know better then to do this in front of people not from Cloud's group. He shook his head just enough for Kairi to see. A surprised look flickered across her face but she caught on as she realized that there were stationary strangers within earshot. She nodded back and let go of Riku after another few seconds. With a wink to Riku she walked over to Yuffie and the stoic brunet she was hanging off of.

"Yuffie, Cloud's starting the shop in a few seconds, and he'll be mad if you're not there for your shift"

Kairi's voice was quiet as she talked to Yuffie, so that it was barely heard by Riku, since he was a good two feet away from the trio.

Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the duo standing behind him.

One of them was a shorthaired blond and his hair slicked back with what was probably clear gel. His eyes were a piercing green that could probably spear you through. He was six-two, towering over the small five-six brunet, whose hair was spiked all over the place. Some hair fell into eyes that were a pure, clear blue. The big blond's skin was tan while the brunet was fair skinned. Their builds couldn't be more different either. While the blond was broad shouldered and thick muscled, the brunet was delicate looking compared to the blond, skinny even. From a distance there was no muscle development but Riku figured that if he was closer, he'd see that the brunet was finely muscled.

Riku's attention was drawn more to the brunet but it was important to keep eyes' on both the blonde and the small brunet. A tugging at his jacket alerted him to the fact that Yuffie had finally been dragged away by Kairi.

She smiled up at Riku, reminding him of a dog that had gotten the bone. Yuffie was standing next to Kairi, looking expectantly at Riku. For some inexplicable reason, Riku wanted to run.

While he didn't exactly run, he did silently turn and start to walk away from the place he had been standing. He didn't really pay attention to whether the two girls followed him or not. He just strode past the stoic, taller brunet that Yuffie had been hanging on to, and as he passed he caught the guy's eye but ignored it and just kept going.


	4. Seeing Old Faces

Warnings: Cursing, Yaoi Male/Male relationships. Cursing, craziness, and other things to come.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my plot.

* * *

Riku didn't even spare a glance backwards as he walked briskly forward.

Kairi and Yuffie were a few steps behind him, so he didn't worry about them taking a detour. Besides, the promise of Cloud frying their ass's if they were late would keep them in line. The section of the village that they were currently in mainly housed the shops. The streets were nearly congested at some parts because it was early afternoon, prime time for shopping around here. He hated having to walk down this street but it was the fastest way to Cloud's shop since his shop was at the corner of this street.

He walked forward without pause, not even slowing when he ran into a crowd.

Yuffie and Kairi ended up further away from him because of his weaving through the crowds, but he was confident that they would keep walking to Cloud's, so he didn't bother slowing down and waiting for them.

Finally, after torturous minutes of walking through the crowded street, he managed to make it to the front of the shop, named Lockhart's Emporium, though it didn't sell the usual stuff.

The place was usually empty because of the things it sold, putting many people off of it. It sold the services of a person for a price. The rules were simple enough. Anyone could hire any person offered, for nearly anything except for sex. You could hire a person for up to a week, any longer and you had to keep coming back to refresh the hire. Jobs ranged from fixing up fences to babysitting someone's kids. As a result, not many people came in daily, coming in mainly on the weekends.

Riku stood at the base of the stairs leading to the front door, waiting for Kairi and Yuffie to catch up. As he waited, he studied the store to pass the time. The shop was made of wood, only one story high, with a large window on either side of the centered front door. Blue curtains had been pushed opened, leaving any passerby with a nice clear view of the insides, though it was too dark to see inside right now, unsual considering that the windows were three feet in length and two feet wide.

He was interrupted from his staring by footsteps coming close and then suddenly stopping instead of passing and then receding as was usual. A red head and a dirty blond were standing not even a foot away, staring at him expectantly. While it wasn't the red head that had been following him, it was another two people who were expected to be present for the meeting. One of them, the redhead, was only an inch or two taller then Riku himself, and the dirty blond next to him was shorter then either of them. The red head had the biggest shit-eating grin on his face that Riku had ever seen.

'_Axel and Demyx' _

The redhead, Axel, was staring at Riku with piercing bright neon green eyes. The dirty blond, Demyx, was grinning ear to ear straight at Riku, and it made him surprisingly nervous to be around him.

Demyx was known for his goofy attitude and sometimes absentminded ways. Axel on the other hand, was known as a prankster and a 'joker' with a carefree attitude that tended to get on people's nerves. Axel and Demyx were always together and collaborating on how to either freak people out or make people laugh. For that reason Riku had always felt uneasy around them and today was no exception.

* * *

Axel ran his hand through his hair, making it stand out even more.

His hair went a little past his shoulders, and was pushed behind them. His hair stuck straight out behind him and was layered.

His companion on the other hand, was grinning stupidly at nothing and seemed to be in a daze. His hair was weird, looking like he had gotten a mullet but shaved off the back too. So really, it was like a cross between a mullet and a mohawk, though it was more mohawk than mullet. Riku rolled his eye's, and turned away from the two 'idiots'.

Yuffie and Kairi would get to the shop eventually, and if they didn't, it wasn't his problem 'cause there was no way he would stay out here any longer with these two. Walking up the wooden stairs, which were only three in total, he didn't look back to see if Kairi and Yuffie were any closer to being present. He just wanted to get into the shop so he wouldn't be labeled missing.

* * *

Sora watched the silver haired god walk away with a forlorn look on his face.

The girl that had been hanging off of Squall gave him one last peck on the cheek, and then walked away with the redhead, trailing after the silver haired young man. Sora found himself wanting to follow 'silver hair' but Seifer's presence besides him reminded him that he needed to stay with the duo he had come to town with.

The whole time the silvered haired man had been present, Sora couldn't have kept his eyes off him and Seifer had been straining to hear what the small group had been saying. Seifer had goteen a suspicious feeling in his gut when the guy had mentioned a shop but he had shrugged it off as his naturally distrusting self.


End file.
